Legal Representation in Virginia: Debt Collection and Eviction Cases

In Legal Representation in Virginia: Debt Collection and Eviction Cases, LSC examines trends in legal representation rates and outcomes in Virginia’s General District Court from 2018 to 2023. Using data from our Civil Court Data Initiative (CCDI), the report highlights the significant challenges faced by self-represented litigants, especially in debt collection and eviction cases.

Debt collectors filed nearly 2.5 million cases against consumers in Virginia from 2018 through 2023. Most of these cases involved a represented debt collector facing an unrepresented consumer: 79% of debt collectors were represented by an attorney, compared to only 2% of consumers. This imbalance often led to poor outcomes. More than half of debt collection cases resulted in a judgment against the consumer, either a default judgment or a judgment in favor of the debt collector. Legal representation matters: represented consumers were 11 times more likely to win a judgment in their favor than unrepresented consumers.

Landlords filed more than 675,000 evictions against tenants in Virginia from 2018 through 2023.

Representation rates were just as disparate in eviction cases as debt collection cases. Most eviction cases involved a represented landlord against an unrepresented tenant. Tenants had legal representation in just 1% of cases, compared to 68% of landlords, most of whom were corporate entities. Tenants were more seven times more likely to win eviction cases when they had legal representation than when they did not.

Explore the Data

The interactive Tableau visualizations below provide additional data on debt collection and eviction cases in Virginia. The first visualization is a map which explores default judgment and defendant representation rates by county and independent city. The second presents data on case outcomes.

Default judgment and defendant representation rates by county/independent city

Explore default judgment and representation rates for consumers and tenants in each Virginian county or independent city. Toggle between default judgment and defendant representation rates using the map selector at the top of the visualization. Use the menu on the right to filter by case type (eviction or debt collection), year filed, and county. Hover over counties in the map to view representation rates of defendants.

Case Outcomes

Use the menu on the right to filter by case type (eviction or debt collection), year filed, county, case outcome (e.g. default judgment, judgment for the plaintiff), or view type (number of filings or percentage of total filings).